The USCIS has just announced that it will give deference to Petitioners who have previous approvals in all non-profit H-1B cap-exempt cases.
Non-profit entities that are related to or affiliated with an institution of higher education have long been approved as cap-exempt Petitioners. This has allowed these Petitioners to file H-1B Petitions regardless of whether the H-1B cap had been reached. In the recent past, however, the USCIS has taken a strict interpretation on the question of whether a non-profit was "related" to an institution of higher learning (e.g. a University).
The new USCIS policy will allow those Petitioners who previously have been granted approvals to file new H-1B cases confidently without fear of inconsistent adjudication. The burden will be on these Petitioners to prove that they have been approved for cap-exempt H-1Bs in the past.
The H1B category is used by US employers to bring foreign professional workers temporarily to the US. This visa classification is reserved for specialty occupations, which means that the occupation must require the theoretical and practical application of specialized knowledge.
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is the federal agency assigned in overseeing the lawful immigration of foreign nationals who are temporarily or permanently settling in the United States and is responsible for granting or denying immigration benefits to those individuals.
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